Sears 35|rf Arrives!

dazedgonebye said:
My little Sears 35|rf (Ricoh 500G) camera has arrived and wonder of wonders…it works!
The rangefinder seems accurate. The meter is responsive and accurate to sunny 16 and the aperture is controlled in A mode! Heck, it even works with the 1.4v hearing aid batteries I had waiting for it.
Ok, the extensive and odd light seals are a gooey mess…but I can fix that easily enough. I’ll snap a few pics of the seals then clean them off with what, lighter fluid, goo-be-gone? I just happen to have a Jon Goodman light seal kit on hand, so I’m good to go.
As an added bonus, it even has an original lens cap with the cute little Sears and Roebuck “butterfly” symbol on it…how cool is that?
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Cool. It's a decent little rig.
 
It's a great camera. I've got a 500 G that I found at a Goodwill grand opening some months ago for $3.99 in very nice condition that works perfectly and takes beautiful photos. Have fun with it and post some pictures.
 
Hey, congrats on the camera. I, too, just picked up a Sears 35 RF but mine appears to be a stripped down (no me switch) version of the Ricoh 500 ME:

Sears%2035rf.jpg


It also takes decent pictures:

Biker-1.jpg
 
dazedgonebye said:
I just realized that I never posted a picture of this camera. I also realized it has half a roll in it and I've got to go finish that off.
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Yep, sweet little low-cost camera. With the Sears logo, it's so anti-cool it is cool again, and it's no toy - great lens. Yes, the seals are usually a gummy mess, and just as you said - lots of seals, acres of seals. Like a skindiver this thing is mummied up.

But it is small, quiet, and unobtrusive, and I doubt it could get stolen in Barcelona if you left it and walked away for ten minutes (don't test that).

I put it in the same class as the Oly RC, but it tends to cost less due to the Sears logo. The lens is every bit as good, IMHO. I think the lens on the Oly RD or SP beat it, but really, not by that much, and of course it is a 2.8 lens, which is a tiny bit slow. But it is a fun camera, worth having. And one gets tired of it, you can surely get your money back by selling it - just don't pay some nutso price for it. I got mine a couple years ago, don't think I paid more than $5 USD each on eBay - both needed seals, but the shutters were fine. I don't bother with the batteries, so I don't even know if the meters work on mine - don't care, use an external meter.
 
fcsuperman09 said:
yea thanks i found the lil silver cover about 3 min after i asked that while i was messing with it and yea everything is clean except it has alot of dust around the lens dials and do you know where i could find a guide to explain what everything does??? like the dials on the lens and the exposure guide on the flash
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DIN/ASA is film speed (ISO = ASA). Don't need to set it unless you have the meter working and you want to shoot with the shutter speed on 'A'.
 
All your spinning around 35|RF made me to purchase 500G (old style, with front plate instead of top cover) - surely for educational purposes, e.g. compare feel and usage against 35RC :angel:

Both have "slow lenses", with "limited range of speeds" - but I must admit that 35RC is pure joy to use, and guess that 500G will be very similar.

Already one cool thing about 500G - it has native softie, while late 500GX (with raised shoe) and Sears 35rf (without pipe) don't. At least on 35RC softie makes whole business a candy, because AE mechanism makes throw longer and stiffer.
 
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I have had a Ricoh 500RF for about a week and it's really a nice camera. What I like best about it is it can be fully manual, and its small size allows me to slip it into my cargo pants pocket.

I had to tighten the focus wheel on mine as it was wobbling a lot, and it's really easy to do even for a newbie like me. All in all a great, cheap little camera.
 
I purchased a Sears 35|rf on ebay and it seems to function and I have gooey seals and all. I have a question, though. What size of lens cap does it use? There was no lens cap with mine. I can't wait to get the seals cleaned up and expose a roll.
 
MMc said:
I purchased a Sears 35|rf on ebay and it seems to function and I have gooey seals and all. I have a question, though. What size of lens cap does it use? There was no lens cap with mine. I can't wait to get the seals cleaned up and expose a roll.
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It takes a 46mm lens cap! I have a 46-49mm step up ring on mine since I own a variety of 49mm lens caps and filters!
 
MMc said:
I can't wait to get the seals cleaned up and expose a roll.
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If you haven't gotten a seal kit yet and still want to try it out, just use gaffer's tape (or duct tape, black electrician's tape, etc) around the edges after you get the film in and go shooting. You don't want to pay for a kit and spend time installing it and find out the shutter or rangefinder is wonky and it needs a CLA or something. Good luck!
 
bmattock said:
If you haven't gotten a seal kit yet and still want to try it out, just use gaffer's tape (or duct tape, black electrician's tape, etc) around the edges after you get the film in and go shooting. You don't want to pay for a kit and spend time installing it and find out the shutter or rangefinder is wonky and it needs a CLA or something. Good luck!
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Thanks for the tip! I certainly appreciate it.
 
Sears stuff prior to the 80s used to be of very high quality, then it all went downhill fast/ deep.
 
Shot a roll of black and white two weeks ago. Should receive them back this Friday. I have the original camera case only missing the original lens cap.
 
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